Contractors... Grrrrr

Work was due to start on our en-suite bathroom last Monday. A letter arrived from the contractors at the end of last week, saying that two of their fitters had had accidents, which had delayed the jobs they were on, and they wouldn't be able to start work on ours until today. So this morning we cleared out the en-suite of all toiletries etc and I took a couple of 'before' photographs and waited for the fitter to arrive.

Other than the letter telling us about the delay, we hadn't had any communication from the contractors for at least a month, but I thought when we placed the order and paid our deposit that they had said the fitter would turn up between 08:00 and 09:00. I was just about to call them at 09:00 to find out where he was, when the phone rang. It was the contractor, telling me the fitter assigned to our job went home sick yesterday and is still not back in today. He said he'd left me a voicemail yesterday afternoon, which I found interesting because we don't have an answer machine on our home phone.

He rang back this afternoon to say that a fitter would be here on Monday - a week later than planned. This isn't all bad, I suppose, because the job is estimated to take a couple of weeks, and we'll be in Florida for the second week, so hopefully (and given the story so far, it's a big ask) we will return home to a new bathroom and won't have had to live with the mess for a week.

We'll see.

Forgot to say

I got my car back on Monday, all repaired - and also washed and valeted, which was nice. Means I don't have to do it for another 12 months at least :). It took them two weeks to replace one panel, though! Good job they left me a courtesy car. The windscreen wipers and indicators in the courtesy car were on the opposite side to my car, and I've spent the last two weeks washing the windscreen when I wanted to turn and signalling left when it rained, and now I have to remember to switch back again...

Also bought some winter running gear on Monday: two long-sleeved tops, one short-sleeved top (just because it was nice), some gloves and some thick socks (more for Pilates than running, in an attempt to keep my feet cramp-free). Grand total for 5 items: £107. This exercise lark is an expensive business!

10.5km in 60 minutes

No, unfortunately I haven't got significantly better at running overnight. But I did do 10.5km in an hour on the cross-trainer this morning. I felt like stopping after 10 minutes, so I'm really pleased I made it to an hour.

Navel pulled in, pelvic floor lifted...

I went to a Pilates class this lunchtime. I used to go once a week when I was in Manchester, but I haven't been since I moved, mainly because the classes at the gym near the house aren't at a convenient time (i.e. on a Sunday afternoon...). The gym near the office has just started a lunchtime class on a Friday, so I went to that today. I'd forgotten how difficult it was! There was another girl in the class who found it all totally effortless, and between her and the instructor, who was 5' 8" with long legs, a flat tummy (after two kids), tanned skin and beautiful hair, they made me feel quite ungainly, with my too-short jogging pants, thunder thighs and holes in my socks. My feet are always cold, and every time I do a Pilates class I get cramp at least once and have to stop to walk it off, and today was no different. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the class and will try and get to one class a week. And I know I'll feel my stomach muscles in the morning... Even though I did Pilates, I was going to consider today my 'rest' day, seeing as I didn't do any cardio, and go running tomorrow, but I had second thoughts as I heard my tummy muscles screaming for mercy today. I'll have a day off completely tomorrow and go back to cardio on Sunday.

Treadclimber = Really Hard Work!

I decided to go on the treadclimber this morning for the first time. There are 4 of them in the new gym, and I hadn't seen them at any other gyms I've been to before. It's like a treadmill except the conveyor is split into two, one for each foot. The treadles are angled upwards at one of three settings, and the weight of you striding forwards pushes them down, then they rise back up again in time for your next step. Andy at work told me it's supposed to give you twice the workout in the same amount of time as the treadmill, so I thought I would give it a go.

I selected the pre-programmed Treadclimber workout rather than a manual one, which was basically a 20-minute introduction to the machine. When I saw that it was only 20 minutes I thought I would probably do the programme again when it finished. By the time I got to 19 minutes, however, and the display asked me if I wanted to go for longer, I had definitely changed my mind! It really is twice the workout - I don't really understand why, but I'm glad it works!

Freezing Fingers and a Runny Nose

To say that I live in the UK and we're now well into November (not to mention the fact that swathes of the country were flooded this summer), in the five months that I've included road running in my exercise schedule I've never once run in the rain. In fact the weather has generally been very good: because we didn't really have a summer this year (apart from the gorgeous few weeks in April and May before I started running), it was never too warm, which is great for running. It was a beautiful bright and sunny morning today, as well, but blimey was it COLD! After I'd had to de-ice the car before I left home, I was in two minds whether to run or go to the gym because I didn't have a long-sleeved top on, and I only decided at the last minute to take the risk and go running.

By the time I'd finished, I didn't feel cold at all, which makes me wonder whether I should just suck it up and be cold for the first 10 minutes. If I wear something with sleeves, will I get so warm that I'll need to take it off half-way round and tie it round my waist? I think I'll definitely invest in some gloves, though - my fingers never really defrosted until after I got inside again. I also need to take a tissue with me next time!

Blogspot Confessional

Keri tagged me in her recent blog. I have to list 6 little-known facts about myself here, then tag 6 other people to do the same. I don't know many people who blog, and the people I do know have already been tagged, except for you, Sarah, so I tag you.

Here are mine, in no particular order: -

1. I read the Celebrity Baby Blog regularly. I hate that I do it, because it puts me in the category of people who keep paparazzi in business, but I don't read Heat, or Hello, or OK, or Closer, or any of the zillion other trashy magazines, so don't be too hard on me...

2. I have never seen Jaws, or any of the sequels. Or any of the Rocky films, or the Indiana Jones films, or the Terminator films, or an episode of The A-Team, or Sesame Street... Plus I was 16 before I saw my first Disney film. Rob wonders what growing up in my house was like...

3. I am a Licenciate of the London College of Music. I took the diploma when I was 18 - on the recorder, of all instruments - and it allows me to use the letters LLCM after my name.

4. Show me 5 seconds of a scene from Friends and I'll tell you which season it's from and what happens in the episode.

5. I miss Manchester. Not too much, but definitely a little bit.

6. I secretly (not so secretly any more) love Ryan Reynolds.

The piano's arrived!

I bought a piano last weekend and it was delivered this morning! I haven't had a piano since I left home 12 years ago, but now I'm finally at a point where I have the space and can afford to buy one. Actually, I can't afford to buy a whole one - luckily my birthday and Christmas are both coming up so Rob has given me some money for both occasions to to cover part of the cost. I don't have any sheet music here and I can't remember much off by heart of what I used to be able to play (but even with the music in front of me I'll have trouble playing the things I used to play), but Mum has taken a bunch of music to Jen's today, and Jen's coming down for the night on Tuesday, so I'll have something to play from soon enough. I'm looking forward to re-learning all the stuff I could play when I was 16...

UPDATE SUNDAY 18:00: I've downloaded and printed out a free copy of the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and have re-taught myself to play it. So far so good...

My neck hurts...

I got shunted in the car this evening coming home from work. The traffic in front of me stopped quite suddenly and I only just managed to stop in time without hitting the car in front. The same cannot be said for the driver of the car behind me... I could see he was going to hit me so I braced myself, but I still jarred my neck a bit. It doesn't feel too bad but I'll see how I am in the morning. At the time I was more concerned about being pushed into the car in front, but I wasn't. My car wasn't too badly damaged - because he was braking so hard, the front of his car was down and he practically went underneath the rear of my car, denting the panel under my bumper, that's all. His car, on the other hand: broken number plate, cracked bumper, both headlights damaged, one totally smashed, bonnet buckled... serves him right, I suppose.

To say that I used to deal with RTAs for a living, I was rubbish when it came to getting details. I got his name, address and insurance company, and his passenger's name, but when I got back in the car I realised I hadn't taken down his registration number... as it happened he followed me down the road for quite a while in slow-moving traffic so I was able to read his plate and write it down.

So not a particularly bad crash at all; it's just annoying that I'll have to spend ages on the phone now, sorting out repairs to the car, then I'll be without the car for at least a day while it's being repaired. Grrr.

UPDATE FRIDAY 08:30: Neck felt fine this morning so I guess I won't be putting in a personal injury claim. Shame really, because I've just made a big purchase (look out for tomorrow's post) and I could have done with the extra cash...

Tired legs this morning

Today I left the house at 07:15, usual time, but instead of getting to the science park and going to the gym, I left my bag in a locker at the gym and did this run instead. It's roughly the same distance as the 5km run near the house, but today was the first time I did it in this location and I actually got lost for a couple of minutes before using the sound of the traffic from the motorway to get my bearings. I posted a fairly bad time again, but I did get lost, and as it's a new route I didn't know what to expect in the way of hills etc (I know, any excuse), but at least I did it - I came extremely close to rolling over and going back to sleep again this morning. My legs are aching now, and I can't stop yawning, but it's a rest day tomorrow.

Congratulations...

... to Sarah, who smashed her personal best over 5km by almost 2 minutes on Saturday at the Banstead Woods Time Trial, coming in at 22:58...

... to Catherine, my friend from an old workplace and the loveliest girl you're ever likely to meet, who got engaged to Ben on Saturday...

... and to Clare, my friend from another old workplace, and her husband Wesley, who've announced today that they're expecting their first baby on 20 May 2008.

Congratulations to you all!

My Second 5k

On Thursday my legs were still aching from the accumulation of cycling last Saturday then 4 days of cross-training, and after the 5k I didn't do enough stretching so I had two days off on Friday and Saturday to recover. I needed it! I did another 5k this morning, though, and got a better time - 34:00 exactly. Still not a great time, but this is more in line with my usual pace of somewhere between 06:30 and 06:45 per kilometre. I sprinted at the end and was shattered when I finished, but I felt like if I hadn't sprinted and tired myself out, I could have run for longer. This is good news - I'd like to think I could get a good time in a 10km by June 2008.

My First 5k

Well, I made it out of bed this morning, put my running gear on and was out of the house by 07:00. My normal route starts from the back of our house and goes into Hedge End village, then I run past the road at the front of the house at around the 2.5km mark. Up to now I have always run past our house at that point and followed the road round to the back again, finishing where I've started, and making a detour into the estate on the way if I want to make the run a bit longer - the basic route starting and finishing at the back of the house is 3.5km; running round the estate makes it 4km.

This morning, however, I decided at around the 2km mark that when I got to the 2.5km point in front of the house, I would turn round and go back the way I'd come, making today the first time I'd ever run 5km. I posted an appalling time - 36:11 - but quite honestly most of the damage was done in the first half, not the second; I couldn't get my legs to go any faster. I don't have a super-duper GPS stopwatch thingy, just a regular one, but I'm fairly sure I was at the half-way point (right outside my front door; it was difficult resisting the urge just to stop and go inside) at around 19 minutes, so I actually did a faster second half than first.

I know 5km isn't exactly far - I bet Sarah wouldn't even have been out of breath at that point - but I've spent the best part of 30 years being relatively inactive, so I'm pleased that I was able to do it. And I have a fairly easy target time to beat next time!